Friday, June 08, 2007

By The Time I Get To Arizona

Really good performance by Beckett tonight. He's giving us what we thought we'd get when we traded for him.

Great job, Arizona Red Sox fans. You represented well.

They just showed a couple of foreign objects on the field! What was that all about? They're not talkin'.

Final: 10-3 us.

The answer to the "does this look familiar" question from the other day: While it is on the street of Quinn's old Tower Records, it's also the spot where that commercial takes place--the one with the ballplayers waiting to get in, and there's the cardboard cutout, and Papelbon's in it but only barely visible. That one.

Look at this, from the Orioles' website:

1932 Baltimore Black Sox CelebrationOn September 6, the Orioles will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Baltimore Black Sox' 1932 championship season. Playing in the East West League, the Black Sox were in first place with a 20-9 record when the league was disbanded in June. The Sox were credited with a championship but never received the proper recognition.

Turn Back the Clock NightCurrent Orioles players and coaches will wear 1932 Baltimore Black Sox replica uniforms for the game, and the team, which included standout players Laymon Yokely and Crush Holloway, will be honored in a pre-game ceremony.

This will all be happening on September 6th, with the Red Sox in town. They don't actually say it above, but that East West League was one of the Negro Leagues. I wonder what kind of uniforms the Red Sox will wear that day. Probably the Boston Royal Giants unis we wore in '02.

Lugo: Back-To-Life To Me

Julio came right out with a HR tonight, and then caught a runner off guard at second base. We lead 5-1 midway through.

The Yankees got the Pirates at home tonight. You know, because the AL East is playing the NL West this season.... The Pirates were so close to winning, you had that feeling like they really needed to get this one, as it might be their only chance. (Then I remembered they get to face Roger tomorrow! Shawn Chacon will start against his old team Sunday.)

The game went to extra innings, and the Yanks won in the bottom of the 10th when none of their last three guys who hit the ball even reached the infield dirt. This was cause for a celebration normally reserved for the end of an action movie. Of course, Jeter had to be the one to get the final wussed-out nubber, making him hold up the fist of champions. I had the sound down, but I hope I never hear Sterling or Kay's call from the end of that one. I'm sure Jeter did something on that last play that you just can't teach, though I don't know exactly what. You know, the Yanks could be 100 games behind us, but I don't see myself ever hating them less, or being less sick when they win, for any reason. I can't wait til they're in that new stadium. They'll lose a big advantage they have over these minor league teams who come in there scared of the big, bright lights.

The good news is, when we do have such a nice lead, I can immediately move on from their cheap-ass wins. If we hold this four-run lead, we're up 10.5 again.

It's been a decade, but I still can't believe we're going into games in June having to keep our hot hitter out of the lineup so the pitcher can bat. And for what? A gimmick.

So, Remy, let me get this straight. Yelling in a fielder's ear as you run by him to make him drop the ball (as done by a Yankee): Fine. Standing there, then tagging a runner when he steps off the base (as done by a Red Sox): "Gray area." Don't worry, Remy, nobody will think you're a homer if you don't defend the opponent at all costs. Quit it, man. We all love you. Stop with the anti-Red Sox stuff.

Hey, you know who else is becoming less dead to me? Drew! Just hit his second dong of the night! It's, like, eleventeen to one now. Nice. We'll see if Beckett starts plunking guys, after Lugo got thrown at and Manny got nailed...

People See Stuff I Did

Hey, one of my photos made it onto the UniWatch column on ESPN Page 2. The dude who writes it had asked for submissions of pics of players wearing the non-BP hats during BP on the UniWatch Blog, and I sent one in. Click the words "Red Sox" in the column and see a pic I took at Fenway. (It was from this day, but it didn't make the cut in my gallery. You can see some other shots from the same perspective.)

He gave a collective thanks to all the people who sent in shots, so that was cool. He's welcome.

State Of Things

A bunch of posts by Amalie giving you exactly what went on yesterday in Oakland, and then after the game in the clubhouses. But mixed in, there's one post by the Dirty One himself, Steve Silva. His post? A transcript of an interview taken off of TV that we all saw anyway.

That shows perfectly how irrelevant that guy is. Is Dirtdogs even a site anymore? I'm not joking. Is it? Seriously, if you still go there, I'm telling you, you can better your life by stopping. It's fun and liberating. It's too bad it gained such a big following, to the point where new Sox bloggers will start up a blog, immediately linking to it. I like watching blogs evolve from: Person who reads DD and wants to do their own version of it TO person who found their own style and voice TO person who realizes DD is irrelevant (with a twist o' racism!).

Then again, some sites just see a "template" that works (read: USA Today, least common denominator-style) and just milk it to death, not worrying about little things like truth, originality and spine.

Side note: Isn't it funny how when I did the above-linked post on Amalie, the pic I used was, like, her graduation picture or something? It was the only one of her online at the time, and it was from some old Washington Post thing, I think. Yet now, she's an everyday face of Red Sox Nation. Also funny how that post was also saying Amalie: good, DD: bad.

Update: Nine minutes after I posted this, Silva put up a new post, now at the top of the Extra Bases blog. Fittingly, it's yet another story he just grabbed from somewhere else online. Is this really all it takes to work for the Globe. Once and for all, sop insulting every fan, Globe, and fire Steve Silva.

Bing!

Did you know I was at Derek Lowe's no-hitter? I totally was. I love that story. And it doesn't end there. Since I had an unused ticket stub to that game (this was before Fenway went to the barcode tickets), I remember suggesting to Pat (who was at the game with me--right field box, and no, no one says "no-hitter" in the stands, either) that I send Mr. Lowe the ticket stub, you know, maybe make a nice commemorative frame for him. And Pat's imitation of the way Derek might respond was priceless in its sarcasm: "Hey, thanks for the nice gift, here are two tickets to a game at Fenway...and a thousand dollars."

We also saw a girl puke her brains out on Overland Street after the game. (Exact spot at far left of map.) I guess that girl was one out away from barfing today.

I just watched the end of the Yanks game. Because I live in Chicago. No, I don't. But we get WGN because it's a superstation. This was one of my early complaints in life: We'd be on vacation in Puerto Rico, and we'd get WGN in the hotel room. And a young Jere would say, "How come I can see the Cubs in San Juan, but I can't see the Red Sox in Connecticut?" I was a bright kid. Anyway, we never got WGN in CT (though we got every Braves game!), so this is my first time as a regular Chicagoland-TV watcher. Is Bozo still on?

I guess WGN shows both Chicago teams nowadays, and tonight I got to see Yanks-ChiSox. As the Yanks blew it open, a fan ran onto the field. As we know, this behavior is not tolerated, to the point where the mere sight of it on TV is completely off-limits. Players on performance-enhancing drugs, however, are "thoroughly respected." Maybe a big blue dot over their faces, MLB? As they were doing the usual "steady shot of the infield while we hear the crowd go nuts as the fan frolics in the outfield," I actually caught a glimpse of the guy, flying across the top of the screen, removing his shirt as he went. Who knows how naked he got by the time he was caught...

Oh, and Hawk, if I want to hear someone drool over Derek Jeter and talk about how he has "magic" that entered his body when he put on the pinstripes and that he's "always" been a winner (he's done that extra-special "non-winning" style of winning the last six years--you can't teach that), I'll listen to any Yankee or national announcer. Stick to blatantly rooting for the "good guys," would you?

The NBA Finals is Cleveland-San Antonio! You know, like in that Seinfeld episode! When they go to the holistic healer (played by that Ned Ryerson guy), and Jerry shows him the piece of paper with his undecipherable, late-night scrawl for his opinion as to what it might say. And he goes, "Cleveland 117, San Antonio 109." They'd have to go triple-OT to get a score like that, but if they get it, well, I guess my life won't change, but you can bet I'd bring it up all the time.

About the word "scuffling"--when did the meaning of this word change? Scuffling means fighting. It doesn't mean you haven't had many hits lately. These ridiculous people (Don Orsillo being one culprit) have confused the word with "struggling." Yes, a "scuffle" can also be called a "struggle." But when you are struggling, meaning "having a rough time with a task," as opposed to "having a confrontation with another party," you are not "scuffling." You're struggling. You can't just say a word that sounds like another word and expect us to believe it means the same thing. Terrible job, baseball announcers.

Watched Roseanne earlier. Yes, the show from the 80s. I never watched it when it was new. Never had interest in it. But I discovered tonight that it wasn't bad. Pretty good, in fact. TJ by me for not giving it much of a chance back in the day.

There were two obvious stars today, and Coco made that great catch, so he would've been too easy. So the JPotG Award goes to Jason, for calling a near-no-hitter, and making a call that may have made it a no-hitter, had Curt not shaken it off. Pic of Jason by me, and didn't make the cut in this post, from Opening Day 2005.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Lugo: Dead To Me

27 batters. No hits, no walks, no hit-by-pitch. That's a perfect game. Curt did that today. But Lugo fucked it up, and the 28th batter gets a hit. At least we got the much-needed win. Now I finally go pee.

Terrible job by NESN overall. They miss a lot of stuff. And on the last play, we didn't get to root for the second baseman to get the ball, because Orsillo had already said "into right field!" The audio on the non-centerfield camera is ahead of the video by a split second.

And Lugo going on the DTM chart isn't just about this, this just clinches it.

Your Tired, Your Poor

Ellis: "I leaned."

That's right, Ellis leaned into that pitch last night, and Remy, even while admitting this was true, found a way to make it seem better than it was. The way I saw it, Ellis started to lean into his swing. When he saw the ball coming at him, he stopped. When he realized how slow it was coming in, he then turned in such a way that the ball would hit him. Remy described this as "turning back toward the catcher, to make it seem like he was turning away from the ball." Well, of course he's gonna turn to his right. What's he gonna do, turn left so that the ball hit's the front of his back shoulder? You can call that turning away from the ball, I call it turning toward the ball. In other words, a blatant attempt to get hit. And don't think the umps don't make the "no attempt to move" call. Doug Mientcussion tried that crap a few weeks ago. As soon as he did it, I yelled "That's bullshit, get back in the box!" Sure enough, the ump made the call that he didn't attempt to move, and didn't award him first base.

How long has Tom Brady been Brad Mills' son? Did you see they showed the reaction of the dugout to Little Mills' being drafted? Tito was going nuts, fist in the air. Then some other guys looked up at the board, and also put their arms up. Pedroia then looked up at the board, looked back at everyone else, and, like a three-year old imitating a group of eight-year olds, put one arm up in the air as well, with a big smile on his face. It wasn't "I'm happy for that dude," it was "we're putting our arms up! Yay!"

I have trouble being able to tell how far fly balls are going in this Oakland park. There were balls hit by Manny and Lowell that looked like classic, no doubt, Don Baylor-style home runs off the bat. Then they showed the left fielder drifting in and catching it. On Papi's HR today, I thought, off the bat, Eh, not so much. But it went out. Funny, since back in the Bash Brothers days, Pat and I used to think the wall in Oakland was on some kind of mechanical track, to be moved in when McGwire or Canseco hit a fly ball. I swear, those balls looked like pop ups to second base, yet they'd go over the center field fence.

Wednesday Oakland Pics

San Fran Sox Fan has been fighting illness and getting out to every Sox game out in Oakland this week. And all of us win because SFSF is kid enough to share these photos with RSFPT. These really capture that humongous coliseum. Thanks, SFSF! Enjoy...

Seriously, Come On/Go East, Young Chan

Wow, Tito just went nuts. I don't blame him, after the shitty calls. That was absolutely A-Rod of Ellis to lean into that pitch like that. And you have to ask for help on a check swing that's anywhere close to borderline.

I couldn't find the Rollins pic I thought of when Tito was yelling like that, but this one's close. We go to the ninth, again needing runs...

...and we're done. Three losses by a total of...four runs I guess. Stupid west coast. I hate manifest destiny. Imagine a world where we just had let the natives run free out west. Each November, after our World Series, which would've been called the USA Series, our champion would play the native champion, complete with a Thanksgiving feast. And "west coast" would mean St. Louis. I did say I like the late games--but only because I like to stay up late anyway. I hate the fact that my Red Sox have to fly far away and get jet lag and stuff, and play in these crazy parks year after year. Let's make this "new world" happen. West coasters, how about each of you give your house to a Native American and head back east, to the good ol' USA.

Oh, and no post game! Come on! We all stayed up for this crap, you people don't get a night off! That's BS. A west coast game and I have to wait for Twilight Zone. (1 AM, it's now 12:40.) Terrible job.

Also, in Christian Slater news, he does the voice-over for commercials for two different companies. Sometimes, they'll play in succession during Sox games. It's Slater-mania. Greetings and salutations, indeed. Did you ever think his name was made up--like, it's a name he invented in support of Jesus? "We are Jews now but we'll be Christians later"? Christian Slater. Maybe. Because from what I understand, Jesus used to be Jewish. I know as much about religion as I do about ironing. I did learn a little about Christianity from that Def Leppard song, "Women," though.Remember this.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Ergometer

[Update: A minute after posting this, yet another inning-ending DP. We didn't see much of it, since NESN's ridiculous Sox Track graphic effed up the picture, as it sometimes does. I call it ridiculous not only because of that, but because it takes so long for the little ball to show up on it, it makes you miss the next pitch sometimes.]

Pipit! Pipit!

Have I talked about "Black Dog" here before? Those "Black Dog, Martha's Vineyard" shirts with the dog logo are my pet peeve. This has nothing to do with the place itself. It may be a fine restaurant. And I've never even been to "the islands" (I know they're called "the islands" from the Giant Glass commercials). I do know that Jaws was filmed on Martha's Vineyard, so it's got that going for it.

But this Black Dog place, wow. Do they give you a free sweatshirt just for eating there? And I don't understand why so many people feel the need to buy and wear something they surely know almost everybody else has? It's not like the place is a baseball team.

When I see someone with that logo on, my first thought is "Ooh, has your car climbed Mt. Washington, too?" And there's one in every crowd. Especially at a Fenway game. But I see it everywhere. Last night behind the plate in Oakland--Black Dog. On that commercial for that local restaurant on NESN--Black Dog. (That's actually a turtleneck, with the dog on the neck, as opposed to the classic full frontal dog--at least that lady's switchin' it up a little.)

Let's stop the insanity. If you have a BD sweatshirt, consider donating it to cold children who live far away. If you don't have one, ask yourself: Do I really need that tired old logo on my chest? Is the fact that I've been to this place that important? I'd rather see you going around telling everybody you've been there than have to see that dog one more time.

If I ever see someone in a Black Dog shirt emerging from a car with a Mt. Washington bumper sticker, my head would explode.

Baracus

Nosh

I never did get a picture of the "bagel nosh" sign when I was living in NYC. But thanks to SV, I just "went" to the spot, and there it was: bagel nosh!

I love old signs painted on the sides of buildings. But who doesn't? I couldn't find much on this old bagel place on the 'net, except for some article from, like, '82, saying that some mobsters would meet up there or something. Either way, bagel nosh!

Bay Area

San Fran Sox Fan is attending the games in Oakland this week, and will be providing us with photos. Just a few pics here, but more to come (these three are huge when you click them; I'll make the future ones fit your screen, but these will stay big--I need to get to sleep...)

(What Will Be) The Final Update Tonight

Nice job by Lopez getting out of it. I take back everything I said. Again, we need two in the ninth to tie.... I wonder if those two girls will be voguing behind the plate like last night.

And again, Captain Cheese on the hill for them.

One down. Oh, just saying, the solution to Drew shitting the bed is not platooning him with Wily Mo. That'd be like if I kept falling down in my new shoes, so I go to the store and buy another pair of the same shoes.

Two away. Come on, Cheese, throw some gophers....

Crap, the baseball gods thought I was standing with two outs and two strikes in the ninth for the reason of rooting for the last strike. I only got up to plug in my laptop, since it got down to reserve power! Not fair. I did run back to the couch and remove BOTH feet from the floor in time for that last pitch, but it was too late. Called strike three, and we're shut out. Nice job by Lenny tonight. He deserved to "shove it up our fucking ass" a la Rick Vaughn. I didn't expect any less from him. Still, five freakin' DPs? TJ by us. We're up 9 over Toronto after their earlier-described win.

Eighth Inning, 12:40 AM

So this is that inning where we say, Oh, down by two with one inning left? Let's put in a new pitcher when the starter was dong just fine, so we can be down three runs when we hit. Sure enough, it's Lopez, Mr. Put the First Guy On. At least he did it quickly with the HBP instead of the walk. Ooh, now a single. Great job. Much like Alex Gonzalez did nothing wrong and was replaced by crap, so was Dice.

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Mid-Game

Yanks won. Again, though, they had to bring in Mo, despite having a big lead going into the ninth. This time it was five runs.

DiNardo is shutting us out through five. I always liked that guy. Terrible job by Coco in the top of the fifth. After five balls in a row, you keep taking pitches. But he swung, hitting into an inning ending double play, negating the walk to the previous hitter.

Speaking of that stuff, guess what I'm pissed at Dice for? That's right, he didn't waste a pitch to Chavez, and the guy took him deep. You could see Tek doing the half-stand, but Dice didn't throw it high enough. He'd earlier given up another 0-2 hit. Then when he does waste pitches, he seems to waste four in a row for a walk.

I mentioned last night there was something going on in the crowd that Remy and DO didn't fill us in on. You could see the crowd and the Sox dugout looking out at something. Remy just explained tonight that it was a fight down in the "black hole" area of the crowd, where all the Raider crazies sit at football games. Speaking of this ridiculous field, Lowell caught a pop-up waaaay in foul ground earlier. I felt like it was the first time in my life all that foul ground in Oakland worked in my favor...

And now a walk comes back to haunt, as they often do. 2-0 Athletics after five.

LostOps

The Devil Rays led 8-1, and then 11-6 going into the bottom of the ninth against Toronto. They gave up six in the ninth, walking in the winning run. Sox leave 'em loaded against "old friend" (as Castiglione is surely referring to him) Lenny D.

Laugh

Of course, I put one of my own videos up there. You can watch it and then vote for it as "funny" or "die." Many of you will see this and say "Oh, Jesus, that one again?" Others will say "Wow, I've never seen that, you're one funny guy." Others will say "Terrible job." Closet pedophiles will tell me that the video is "wrong," etc., as they did on GooTube and Putfile. Terrible job by them. It's a comedy video. Clear your brain of all your dirty thoughts and watch it again. If I showed a video of a cat outside my window playing with stuff lying around, would you tell me it was a bestiality video?

Did You Know? (A Live Blog Starting In The Ninth)

JC Romero is the only major leaguer to have the name of an empire and the initials of one of its dictators within his own name? Or maybe he isn't.

Remy with another anti-Red Sox thing tonight. Youk throws to Pedroia for the out, but the ump calls the guy safe, saying Pedroia was off the bag. Tito argues play. Remy proclaims the call is correct. Replay shows Pedroia on bag with ball firmly in glove. People producing game keep replay paused for a good three seconds, almost daring Remy to say "Whoops, I apologize, I was absolutely wrong." He stays quiet. As does Orsillo.

Captain Cheese in for the ninth. Papi doubles! We need 2.

And we've got 2! So far... Sweet!!!!

Wow, Wily Mo didn't get to second on that? So, we go bottom 9, tied. Wily Mo has takeneth and has giveneth away tonight, with his #26 wristbands...

Joely still in. I always think of what's-her-name in Eternal Sunshine. "A wino? Are you from the fifties?"

I'd have put in a non-Joely here. He does his thing--the four-pitch walk to the leadoff man. Off the team!

Remy says broken bat wasn't a distraction at all. If it was Jeter he would've said it was a distraction. Let's just say a bat flying at Hinske didn't help. Here comes the Roman dictator himself. It's fate! Beware the 4th of June, JC.

Another freebie. These relievers absolutely need punishment for walks. There should be a fucking dungeon in clubhouses.

How about a triple play.... 0-2 on The Ravine... And he makes him chase for the K! Nice! Now a DP and we go extras.

I'm in "stand up and walk around" mode. I meant Mirabelli up there, not Tek. I forgot Tek PH'd for Drew, not Doug.

Pedro Iowa with a one-out hit.

This is why I love the late games. It's like I'm on night watch or something, keeping the flame lit, as if it's up to me to get the win for the morning crew.

Lugo Ks. I'd take Nomar, O-Cab, Gonzalez, or Hanley over this guy any day. I thought we got him to get offense out of the shortstop position.

Something happening in RF. They're not telling us. 2-0 on Papi. Fuck!!! That was half a foot short!!!! Shit!!!!!!!!!! This is BS. I thought Dustin was closer than that. Damn it.

So we get to see a cycle. That's cool, considering the hit he needed was just a single. Now another DP. Here's Cust. Remember when this dude fell down--twice--on the way home against the Yanks when he was an Oriole? I'll always be mad at him for that...

Yet another freebie. Why must you do this? Throw strikes, let the D take care of it. I hope he didn't let those A's fans get to him, what with their Yankee Stadium-esque booing of throws to first. Uhhh, that is the winning run over there, sorry we're concerned about him. (Another thing I hate about Yankee Stadium--they'll boo anything that wastes their precious time, again proving they're the least knowledgeable fans in baseball.) Two on, one out, we go to KySny. I blame myself for that last walk. I stood too close to the spot I was in when Lugo struck out. Gotta avoid that area... What the hell? A check swing, and it's like a sac bunt. Two outs. Crowd quiet for some reason. Get this guy, KySny. Nice. No problem. 3-1. 11th inning, let's go!

Crap. I guess you had to give Wily Mo the green light. Bottom 11 now.

Shit. Almost got it to the twelfth. We did what we could tonight, all things considered. Still way up in the division. Congratulations Toros. Congratulations Bears.

Monday, June 04, 2007

The Best

Yanks lose. DeSalvo goes one and a third. In the ninth, they almost came back, but didn't, with Jeter making the last out. The way we like it. They're tied with the D-Rays again, 13 behind us at the moment.

Papi's HR has us up 1-0 in the first...

Looks like the SF shots on G-Maps street views are from very recently. Blonde Redhead at Bimbo's. April 23rd/24th, 2007. Is this weird that I keep looking at these street views? I hear a voice in my head saying, "Oh my god, Becky. My boyfriend? His friend Doug? Well his dad does this thing? On the net? Where he like looks at people on the street. He like goes around neighborhoods and just looks at them. Isn't that we-yerd??" Probably. But I'm with the mythical Doug's dad--street views rule. I've been finding some interesting stuff on there. No more baseball team logos as of yet...

No Shame

I got an e-mail from an MLB team today saying "Ticket Offer Extended!" I didn't even need to click to figure out which team it was. That's right, it was our old friend, Mr. Dunbar, aka the Yanks. The half-freakin'-price sale goes on:This special ticket offer has been extended to last until 5:00 PM on Friday, June 8.

Even after that win last night, nobody's buying tickets... Those poor Ya--, I mean, HA!

Lester threw a complete game, four-hitter for the Paws today.

Pedroia was named Player of the Week and Rookie of the Month. Sox in Oakland tonight at 10-ish. I can't wait. I love the late games... (not sarcasm) (neither was that)

Phony Alert!

I'm not gonna give it a full-on "terrible job," but it's close. The guy mourns the loss of an announcer, and does a good job of it. But I don't think this article has anything to do with Trupiano. Trup was not beloved the way Ken Coleman or Ned Martin or Curt Gowdy was. He wasn't even as near to our hearts as Joe Castiglione is. In fact, the sentiment of this article would better suit a Castiglione piece, should he get fired at some point. Joe was there when Jerry came on board, and remains in the booth now.

Besides, anyone who listens regularly knows that in the last few years, Trup's banter with Joe became one-sided, almost as if Jerry was the bully to our old friend Joe. That and his decidedly mediocre play-by-play meant it was time for him to go. He gave it a good run, and we won't soon forget his voice, but I can't say I was expecting any kind of "going away" ceremony.

But that's not my main problem with the article. This author, to me, came across as a phony, in regards to him being a Sox fan. He gave himself away when he talked about a decades-ago car ride, in which he listened to a Red Sox game to get him through a difficult time. He saysI flipped on the radio. Music didn't work; it only caused a pile up of more painful memories. But then, in the far corner of Connecticut, I had the good fortune of finding that afternoon's Red Sox game on the air. With some frantic turning of the dial, I kept it going all the way to New Hampshire.

Good fortune? You don't know what station the Red Sox are on? And this is after listening to music. Finding a Red Sox game by accident is something only a casual fan can do. We know when the game is on, and what station to find it on. Every day. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with being a casual fan. But if you're going to write an article for the Globe, don't pretend you're part of "Red Sox Nation" if you're just some dude from Michigan (I looked him up) who's randomly listened to a game now and then.

Early in his piece, he describes the loss of Trupiano:Tune your radio to a game and you might have been taken by surprise.

The additions of our two new radio announcers were made public on December 15, 2006. Yes, a very casual fan might be surprised, in June of 2007, to hear a Red Sox game on radio without the voice of Jerry Trupiano. But even a monthly check-in on the state of the team would've probably clued you in that Trup hasn't been around for a good while.

So maybe I will go all-out and give Ted Weesner a "TJ." I was trying to figure out the year of his infamous drive. This page tells me he got a college degree in 1962. That was after quitting school and serving three years in the army. I'm pretty sure you have to be 18 to join the army, so that would mean he didn't start college until he was at least 21. Add four years to that, and that has him getting the degree at a minimum age of 25, making his birthyear 1937. He says he was 24 on his trip, so that would be 1961. He says he took Interstate 95 from CT to NH. I-95 wasn't completed, at least not the portion from eastern CT to RI, until 1964. And it wasn't fully completed within RI until 1969.

So, I don't know what this guy's deal is. He's lived near Boston for a while now, and he must've just discovered this Trup thing, and decided to write an otherwise good piece on baseball announcers. I'm sure he's not a phony in real life. He seems like a nice, older, gay dude, making a living in New England doing freelance writing. I can respect all that. But leave the Red Sox pieces to the baseball crazies. We're not easily fooled.

[I also noticed that someone else wasn't too happy with the piece in question.]

EnKapSulated

Wow, according to my stats, people across the globe are searching the internet to find out just who those dudes are behind home plate at Fenway. Let me refer you all to this handy chart I made and posted a while back. Click to enlarge:

Here's the recap. The two mainstays are: Dennis Drinkwater, CEO of Giant Glass, who is an avid New York Giants fan as well, but almost never misses a game at Fenway. He looks like Robert Redford, or Jerry Springer. Last night he wore a blue rain jacket, and left the game (terribly) with two outs in the ninth. He is known to rush out of the park as soon as the last out his made. Drinkwater is usually seated a little to the left of home plate, from the normal camera angle.

A few seats over to Drinkwater's left, so, just to the right of right-handed hitters, when looking from the classic angle, is Red Sox Senior Advisor and former "super-agent," Jeremy Kapstein. This is the larger dude who usually sits stock still with a suit on. He's also there pretty much every game. His seat is the best one in the park, on the middle aisle, directly behind the plate.

Occasionally there will be some seat-switching--the other day Drinkwater was seen on the opposite side of Kapstein--which is usually done to accommodate guests. Kapstein also gives his front row seat to a guest and sits one row behind them. Drinkwater entertained Ray Borque the other day as well.

Nobody else in the picture is a regular. In the pic, you can see "Malcolm McDowell guy." I guess he didn't pan out, or just isn't noticeable to me anymore. And the C. Everett Koop guy, well, he'll turn up occasionally, but he's no regular either. If anyone does spot any new regulars back there, please let me know.

Quint? No.

Waste a pitch. If you don't waste a pitch, you waste four hours of our time. And I didn't even have to sit out in the cold rain. Somebody tell Papelbon. 0-2, 9th inning, two outs, tied, WASTE A PICTH. Every time. Varitek: Stand up, put the glove on the ground, or put it a foot outside.

It's good to know that the Yanks--remember, playing in "their World Series"--have to work that hard just to get within 12.5 of us.

I actually had a pen near me tonight (a kind that glows blue when you press the button), so I took some "notes." So, instead of from memory, like ususal, here we go:

In-crowd shot by ESPN caught Lucchino walking up aisle. Kind of like Speilberg catching the shooting star in Jaws. Later, on a shot of A-Rod walking to the dugout, we saw Lucchino again in the crowd, which is common, but, like the second shooting star in Jaws, just made it that much more cosmic. (Miller and Morgan didn't notice Larry either time.)

Morgan being Mor--, uh, I'll just say "stupid": 1. What's his (and Fox's, yesterday) problem with Manny playing shallow? Doesn't he see that huge wall behind Manny? Being back against it doesn't help, as any ball above a certain height is impossible to catch. Morgan even said, "with him being shallow, he can only catch a ball hit right near him." Say what? Would he be able to get to balls farther from him if he started off in a different place?

2. On the ball that hit the top of the scoreboard and bounced straight up (note: I predicted this would happen tonight, although I said it would be a Pedroia hit--you can ask my girlfriend), it seemed to me Manny could've scored from first, what with the extra time the ball was in the air after it hit the wall. Of course, we never knew how much of chance he had, because ESPN never showed Manny, only a shot of Cano at second, waiting for a throw that had no chance of getting Lowell. But did my ears deceive me or did Morgan say that the extra time the ball stayed in the air made it so that Manny didn't have a chance to score? If he did, he would've been saying the opposite of the truth, but I'm not sure he did.

3. I am sure that when Manny slid head-first into second, Morgan said he's never seen Manny do that before. I don't expect Morgan to watch every game played by every team. But a tiny bit of research going into the game would've allowed Joe to witness Manny doing the head first slide, for he's done it several times in this series alone. Did he even watch any highlights from the last two games? What kills me more than the fact that he'd never seen it before is the way he then reiterated it, laughingly: "I've certainly never seen that from Manny!" Just another occurrance of a national announcer telling the world that Manny doesn't normally play with passion, and that this example of it is therefore comical.

When they gave a stat about Guidry's '78 season, the graphic showed us only that he went 12-2 during the final 70 or so games, in which the Yanks' comeback (followed by final week choke, followed by one-game playoff win due to Lou Piniella getting a sign from god and Mickey Rivers' corked bat) occurred. Now, they were trying to do this to show that he did extra-well during the key part of the season. Like, if a guy is 15-13, but did awesome against a certain team, you'd show that he was, say, 4-0 against them to show that in a specific situation, he came through. But Guidry, as Jon Miller told us, went 25-3 that year! 12-2 would actually represent a stretch that was worse than his season totals, as he went 13-1 the rest of the time. So putting up the graphic they did says to me, "In 1978, Ron Guidry, shown here, pitched worse when it mattered than when it didn't." Of course, I realize he pitched awesome all season, but it's little things like this that bug me.

Kind of like how in baseball-related commercials, there will be things that are obvious goofs to any fan of the game. Example one: Current commercial where they show a close-up of first base, with feet running toward it from home. Words on screen say something about a player turning his ankle when "rounding first." Yet he's running straight at the bag like he's about to run through it, as opposed to rounding it. Example two: One of those "real men of genius" radio spots, where they talk about the guy who goes all out for a foul ball, in the "bleachers." Any bleachers there are in the majors are gonna be in fair territory. They should've said "stands," or if they had to say bleachers, say "home run ball." There are many other examples, but those are two current ones to watch for.

Graphic tonight said Yanks have lost 12 leads this season. Not 12 blown games, but 12 times when they had the lead, and then lost that lead at any point in the game. And five of those, including three yesterday, have been against the Sox. That's an amazing percentage to me.

One graphic, again, if i saw it correctly, said "1B Johnny Damon," as if he were playing first at the time, when he clearly wasn't. Maybe they just messed it up since they were talking about him playing first in the future, since he's crippled.

About standing ovations and curtain calls: We all know that at Yankee Stadium, if you tie your shoes correctly, you'll be asked to come out of the dugout and tip your hat to the crowd. They have cheapened this stuff greatly. It's no wonder Wayne Tolleson has two plaques in Monument Park. So, I'd just like to point out yet another reason why Sox fans are better than Yanks fans: The standing O Josh got tonight after a fine performance. The guy's done great all year, after a crappy '06, then came off a recent injury and tonight went into the seventh, threw 117 pitches, kept his team close enough so that they were able to get him a lead, which he left the game with, against the rival club. Granted, four earned runs were given up, but two came in on a weak chopper to third, and the fans knew this. It was the type of gutty performance standing ovations are reserved for at Fenway, and I'd hope any other ballpark. But at Yankee Stadium, I've seen some lately that were beyond questionable. Then again, they are desperate in The Bronx. And don't get me started on curtain calls. Youk got one the other day, and he had to hit an inside-the-park homer to get it. Again, these things are supposed to be for extra-special things. Hit one to the short porch at the Toilet, and you're probably getting a curtain call.

TJ by the cameras tonight, as mentioned above, and on a few fly balls where they fooled everyone by showing just the ball. Uh, if we see a ball with only sky behind it, we have no idea where it's going to land. And on the pitch where Lugo struck out, where Pettitte yelled in pain: For some reason, they thought it would be to give the wide angle, showing Wily Mo leading off second, because they were talking about him possibly stealing signs. (Hey, he must've been telling Lugo what to do, because he swung and missed for strike three!) On the pitch, they were zooming in, making it hard to watch. I hate that crap. It's times like that when I blame the cameras for the result of the play.

Like on Pedroia's fly ball that Abreu accidentally caught, bringing back shades of the aforementioned Piniella play, they gave us the "behind-the-plate" view of the pitch. I hate it. I can't tell where the ball's going, how high it is, etc. And when you're, uh, weird, like me, you need that classic view on each pitch to be able to properly root, and therefore will positive things to happen. Without that, I'm lost in the woods. And even when bad camera angles result in good plays, well, I still feel like they "ruined the fun" for me. No more of that artsy crap, please. Save it for replays.

TJ by Miller when he implied Pap went to the pen in the offseason because "he didn't want to start." Look, we know he'd rather be the closer, but that wasn't the reason he was put back there. Now the world thinks he didn't want to do what he was told to do, when in fact he always has.

On Papi's triple, they never showed him running the bases. On the play at the plate with Lugo, we didn't see a replay until much later in the game, and it wasn't a close-up, nor was it analyzed by the announcers. Lugo did lots wrong tonight. He got lucky when he got picked off. I'm trusting that dude less and less.

Good job by Wily Mo backing up Coco on the ball of the center field wall.

Really nice job by Jeemer getting out of a man on third, no outs jam. Terrible job by him for getting into it, and allowing the tying run to score, in the first place. Nice job by Pedroia all around. I love seeing him up there.

I wish Youk had taken more time after getting hit in the ninth, to make Mo think more.

I hate the Sunday night loss--no late-night talk shows to ease the pain before bed. Not much "pain," though, when I think about this lead we've got, and about all the negatives the Yanks have going for them.

One last thing (unless I figure out what my scrawled "30/30" means...). When A-Rod reached on that chopper to Lowell that scored two, what the hell did he do after he crossed first? He put both arms in the air. Later, on a highlight show on NECN, they said "A-Rod thought he was out..." I don't know, that was just weird. Freakin' A-Rod. Waste a goddamn pitch next time, Pap.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

JPotG Update

I forgot to give the "Jere's Player of the Game" award yesterday. It's been added to the post below. Again, this award goes to the player in a Red Sox win who does something awesome or that flies under the radar or that is specifically cool to me. All pics used in the JPotG world taken by me unless O.N. (Same with all pics on this blog.)

Loose As A Goose

Does anyone else keep looking at the standings over and over again?

Every time the Yanks took the lead yesterday, I could just feel Yankee fans thinking they'd won, pre-'04-style. You know they were saying, "Our lineup's just too good..." In reality, though, it's still about pitching, and they continue their six-year streak of not understanding that.

I'm hoping games like this will continue to raise the confidence level of Red Sox fans. For some reason, many of us, after 2004, went right back to the old ways of thinking the team will always lose in the end. Note: I have no idea what the deal with these people is. I always thought the Red Sox would win every game, my whole life, regardless of curses or BS like that. Anyway, I hope the pessimism goes the way of Yankee teams with pitching, or at least that those people can allow themselves to enjoy the good times.

Terrible job by Fox regarding the Youk hit-streak. In the eighth, as he was coming up, instead of talking about it being his last chance to extend the streak, they did a "history of Roger Clemens." (Buck said something about him making a splash in "that '84 season," whatever that means.) Then when Youk walked, instead of noting how he cared more about getting on base for the team than his own streak (officially making him Jere's Player of the Game), Fox went on to something else. I don't remember what it was, but it caused us to miss the huge ovation for Youk, as his streak came to an end. (Had Jeter taken three walks with a hit-streak on the line, the entire Fox staff would've taken turns suckling at his teat, then put together a musical montage of the event.)

Oh, speaking of ol' Derek--wasn't that cool how he cost his team the game? Jeter blows game. Jeter blows game. Jeter blows game. I'm just trying to say it enough for all the headlines which will convenient leave this fact out.

Nice to hear the "Where is Roger?" chant. (Which was "cut up" by Fox' ridiculous audio, which is slightly off from one camera angle to the other. So you'd hear "Where is Roger, oger?" or "Where is, ere is Roger?") Answer: He's off faking a groin injury.

Was funny to hear McCarver call the Yanks "keystone cops" on that bloop single. The one thing he forgot to criticize was how Melky should have had caught that ball. It was in the air for five minutes. You could see him break to his right instead of in on the ball.

Good matchup tonight, with Beckett and Cod-boy.

How's this for a nickname-- We all remember "the Goose," old Yankee reliever Rich Gossage. At the batting cages in Danbury, when I was little, the cages were labeled: "40 MPH," "60 MPH," and "The Goose." Man, I hated that guy. Yesterday, as Brian Bruney came in, I said, "Oh, look who's goose-stepping into the game..." You know, because he's a neo-Nazi and all. Then it hit me: The Goose! Just kind of ironic, since it fits him, despite that he's nowhere near the pitcher Gossage was. I guess you could say he's the "Spruce Goose" or something. But I like just seeing him and saying "The Goose!" Kind of like how we'd ironically call Dale Mahorcic the "Iron Horse."